


Flowers of the Forest

by genarti



Series: old drabbles and ficlets [3]
Category: The Dark Is Rising
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-11-20
Updated: 2004-11-20
Packaged: 2017-10-04 18:59:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genarti/pseuds/genarti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Rowlands, after.  Written in November 2004.  Short fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flowers of the Forest

John Rowlands rises early, before the dawn. In the faint grey light before sunrise he gets up, dresses, puts the kettle on. Later he will have a proper breakfast of Jen Evans' good cooking, but for now it is tea only. The first cup he drinks standing by the sink in his small empty kitchen, with sugar and a splash of milk, and the second. The rest, when it has brewed strong and bitter, will go into a thermos flask for the day's work.

Outside an owl calls, soft and echoing. John, who knows the old stories, thinks of Blodeuwedd, the maiden of flowers, who deceived her husband and sought his death. She was not killed, lovely false Blodeuwedd, but was turned into an owl, to wander forever outcast from all humanity and all her fellow birds, hooting her shame in the night.

His own white flower, his own Blodwen, did nothing of the sort. She was good and true and kind, and still she was taken from him in a train crash, and his kitchen and house and heart are empty and echoing in the pale predawn light. He turns from the window, face crumpling in pain, and it is several long minutes before he can rinse out his tea cup mechanically, set it on the draining-board, and leave for the fields. Shearing it will be today, work for strong arms and calm steady hands.


End file.
